Food Insecurity Is Associated With Dysfunctional Eating Behaviors Among Adults in Puerto Rico

Abstract

Objective: To examine the association between food insecurity and dysfunctional eating behaviors among adults in Puerto Rico.

Methods: Data from 865 participants were obtained from baseline interviews from the Puerto Rico Observational Study of Psychosocial, Environmental, and Chronic Disease Trends (PROSPECT) cohort. The association between food insecurity and emotional eating (EE) and uncontrolled eating (UE) (categorized as no/moderate/high) was examined using multinomial logistic models. Potential mediation by perceived stress was explored.

Results: The prevalence of food insecurity was 20.3%. Compared with adults with food security, adults with food insecurity had higher odds of both moderate EE (odds ratio [OR], 1.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18-3.09) and high EE (OR, 2.85; 95% CI, 1.75-4.64), and both moderate UE (OR, 1.78; 95% CI, 0.91-3.50) and high UE (OR, 3.28; 95% CI, 1.70-6.33). Perceived stress slightly attenuated these associations.

Conclusions and implications: Food insecurity was associated with a higher likelihood of engaging in dysfunctional eating behaviors. Interventions alleviating food insecurity or stress might help adults sustain healthy eating behaviors.

Keywords: Puerto Rico; dysfunctional eating behaviors; emotional eating; food security; stress.